Training 9/4 - 9/10

Despite still battling my left ankle, I was able to put in a really solid week of training. Luckily, all my other parts are feeling good. Unfortunately, because of the ankle, most of the miles were on the roads. Then again, I do have the MDI Marathon coming up in a month, so maybe that's not all bad.

Onto the numbers...

9/4, Sunday: 7 - 1:01:05, Mt. Ararat. Even with the ankle roll just two days before, it was feeling good, and I was eager to get some hills. I did alter the route to a more "ankle-friendly" variation, which saw me running the paved, backside road, which was less steep that the other routes to the summit. I traded the elevation for speed and upped the tempo each time I hit this section. I really liked this variation and will probably run it more often when I'm on Mt. Ararat. Just fun to mix it up. Despite being very humid, I felt good the whole way even with my lack of hill training. More importantly, I didn't further injure my ankle.

9/5, Monday: 5 - 38:38, Highland Green. Pretty snappy tour of this loop for me. In fact, it's the second fastest time I've ever put in on it. Granted, it's always an easy/recovery run, so it's not a tough standard. Regardless, this run felt very easy and the miles just flowed. Good stuff.

9/6, Tuesday: 20 - 2:42:13, Cemetery Hill Figure-8. With my aborted long run last week, I was determined to get some miles in. Still wary of the ankle, I resigned myself to the roads. Aside from the lack of shoulder in some sections, the roads I chose were great—read: hilly. I started out in a light rain that had stopped by about 5 miles, and by the time I finished the sun was out. It never got warm, so that was a bonus. This route uses some roads I remember training on in college. In fact, I have distinct memories of being dropped during workouts on these roads during my freshman year. I feel as if I made amends for those workouts today, putting in a solid 8:06/mile average for the loop.

9/7, Wednesday: Off - Planned. Surprisingly not sore after 20 road miles. I'll take it.

9/8, Thursday: 10.25 - 1:20:36, Simpson's Point via Brunswick Commons. Interested to see how I felt after Tuesday, I planned to run a comfortably, quick 10 on mellow trails/roads. Fortunately, the shoulders on the road sections are very runnable for the most part, and this loop probably only included a mile of on-pavement running. Miles flowed very easily the entire run and was even holding myself back a bit in the middle. Oddly, however, my upper body was a bit creaky/crampy. I assume it was a result of Tuesday, but still random. Either way, I'd say this run was a bigger confidence booster than Tuesday's 20. To feel this good after 20 on the roads was awesome.

9/9, Friday: 5.75 - 1:04:35, Scuffle/Bruiser Hybrid w/ Val. After marking half the race course for Sunday's Bradbury Bruiser, Val and I headed out for an easy run. I was very cautious to not roll my ankle. Mission accomplished. I don't think we had more than a second or two of silence the entire run, which was terrific. Very fine morning on the trails. Thanks, Val!

9/10, Saturday: 5.25 - 42:42, Bike Path w/ Sam-BOB. Following a busy morning of final race preparations for the Bradbury Bruiser, including marking the O Trail with Ian, I picked Sam up from D's sister, who was kind enough to watch her for the morning. Sam fell asleep a few minutes into the ride, so I ate some of her snacks and drove around for about an hour and a half while she napped. We made a half hour stop at home, so I could eat some real lunch, and headed for the Brunswick Bike Path around 3:00pm. I hadn't run with her in the BOB in quite some time...well, not since she's been talking. "Daddo running!" "Sammy running!" "Sammy kick!" Needless to say, she is a fantastic running partner, and we had a great time chatting away when the noise from the cars wasn't too loud. "Truck vroom vroom!" Post-run, we played in the fields a bit before headed home. It's great the weather is getting cooler, so, hopefully, I can take her out in the afternoon for runs on the days I watch her. It would be much easier than D and I trying to squeeze our runs in first thing in the morning.

Totals: 53.25
Trail: 23
Road: 30.25

Yup. 53 miles. Big week for me. Pretty comfortably, too. In fact, it's the third longest week of 2011 for me. (Tops being 61.5, which I've done twice.) Nothing but good things to say. Odd, huh? Well, I need to build up the miles because the other big news this week is that I registered for my first 50-mile race: Lookout Mountain 50 Mile on December 17. Needless to say, I'm really excited. More hills. More miles. I'll be ready to go.